The two mountains Taihang and Wangwu, which cover an area of 700 square li, and rise to an enormous altitude, originally stood in the south of Jizhou and north of the Yellow River. The Simpleton of the North Mountain, an old man of ninety, dwelt opposite these mountains, and was vexed in spirit because their northern flanks blocked the way to travellers, who had to go all the way round. So he called his family together, and broached a plan. 'Let us,' he said, 'put forth our utmost strength to clear away this obstacle, and cut right through the mountains until we come to the south bank of the Han River. What say you? They all assented except his wife, who made objections and said: 'My goodman has not the strength to remove a spoonful of dirt from the mound of Kuifu, let alone two such mountains as Taixing and Wangwu. Besides, where will you put all the earth and stones that you dig up? The others replied that they would throw them on the promontory of Bohai, north of the state of Bozhou. So the old man, followed by his three descendants, who were able to carry the pickaxes, began hewing away at the rocks, and cutting up the soil, and carting it away in baskets to the promontory of Bohai. A widowed woman who lived near had a little boy who, though he was only just shedding his milk teeth, came skipping along to give them what help he could. Engrossed in their toil, they never went home except once at the turn of the season. The Wise Old Man of the River-bend burst out laughing and urged them to stop. 'Great indeed is your witlessness!' he said. 'With the poor remaining strength of your declining years you will not succeed in removing a hair's breadth of the mountain, much less the whole vast mass of rock and soil.' With a sigh, the Simpleton of the North Mountain replied: 'Surely it is you who are stubborn and pigheaded. You are not to be compared with the widow's son, despite his puny strength. Though I myself must die, I shall leave a son behind me, and through him a grandson. That grandson will beget sons in his turn, and those soils will also have sons and grandsons. With all this posterity, my line will not die out, while on the other hand the mountain will receive no increment or addition. Why then should I despair of levelling it to the ground at last? The Wise Old Man of the River-bend had nothing to say in reply. One of the serpent-brandishing deities heard of the undertaking and, fearing that it might never be finished, went and told God Almighty, who was touched by the old man's simple faith, and commanded the two sons of Wan'e to transport the mountains, one to the east of Shuo, the other to the southern corner of Yong. Ever since then, the region south of Jizhou, north of the Han River has been an unbroken plain.

There is an ancient Chinese fable called "The old man moves a mountain." It says that there once was an old man who lived in northern China, and was known as the old fool of the northern mountains. There were two mountains to the south of his house which blocked the way to his house. One was called Mount Taihang, and the other was called Mount Wangwu. The old fool decided to have him and his sons move the two mountains with hoes. There was an old man, called the old sage, who laughed upon seeing what they were up to. He said, "This is an unavoidably foolish endeavor, there is absolutely no way that you can move these two mountains." The old fool replied, "After I die, there are my son, my grandson, and their sons and grandsons etc. Even though these two mountains are tall, they won't get any taller. If we dig a little, there will be a little less. Why can't we keep digging until it is flat?" The old fool refuted the old sage's erroneous thought, and did not waver. This moved God, so he sent two spirits down to earth to carry the two mountains away. There are now two mountains on the heads of the Chinese people. One is called imperialism, and the other is called feudalism. The Communist Party of China must resolve to dig away at these two mountains. We must be absolutely firm, and continue to work away without stopping. We must also move God. This god is not another person, it is the masses of the people of the entire nation. If the masses of the people of the entire nation were to rise up in unison, and help us to dig away at these two mountains, what is there that we could not flatten?